The National Task Team (NTT) on the Placement of Out-of-School Children with Disabilities convened for their last meeting of the 2025/2026 financial year. During the meeting, which took place from 17 to 18 February 2026 at Hoërskool Suid-Natal in Port Shepstone, KwaZulu-Natal Province, the NTT reviewed progress in learner placement, discussed policies and legislative frameworks guiding learner placement, and also deliberated on implementation tools and allocation of human resources necessary for the successful implementation of inclusive education.

Established in 2023 to fast-track the placement of children with disabilities, especially those with intellectual disabilities from special care centres into public ordinary schools, this multi-disciplinary team is constituted of senior education officials and experts who can make and carry through decisions of the NTT. With the main role of the NTT being to stabilise the placement, support, and retention of learners with disabilities in the education system, inter-directorate coordination and intersectoral collaboration are key to its success. “Building an inclusive education system cannot be done by one directorate, it requires all line functions to be involved. For inclusive education to be effectively implemented, we need to ensure that there are no inconsistencies in how we understand inclusive education. Our actions and decisions as line functions need to be aligned, and it is up to us as members of this NTT to lead this process across our various departments and line functions to prevent discord,” said Mr Jabulani Ngcobo, Director: Inclusive Education, and Chairperson of the NTT.

According to Ms Christinah Banyini, Chief Education Specialist: Inclusive Education, data received from provinces indicates that over 800 children have been placed since the establishment of the NTT. A myriad of challenges were cited for the seemingly slow progress, with infrastructure and resource constraints in receiving schools, lack of appropriate transport to ferry the learners between home and school, and parental disinclination in moving their children from the care centres to ordinary schools. “Be that as it may, we have a constitutional and legal obligation to ensure that the right of children to basic education is immediately realised; this is non-negotiable. We must leverage our relationships with relevant sister departments and social partners to ensure integrated service delivery. We also need to initiate structured dialogues with parents to address resistance and mobilise learners into schools.”

With children with disabilities being placed in ordinary schools, what is the future of special schools, formally referred to as Schools for Learners with Special Educational Needs? According to Mr Ngcobo, support is not a place, it is a service. “Support must follow the learner. Inclusive education policy and legal frameworks dictate that ordinary schools must become the primary sites of learning for all learners, including those with disabilities, and that reasonable accommodation and individualised support must be provided within ordinary schools.” He further added that the policy position of Education White Paper 6 is that no new special schools must be built, and that existing special schools must be repurposed, strengthened, and designated as resource centres. As resource centres, special schools would provide outreach services to ordinary schools, offer specialist professional support, supply assistive devices and learning materials, and assist with teacher development, coaching, and mentoring. “Not all learners with disabilities need specialised support. Only learners requiring high levels of support should be placed in special schools. All other learners, including those with disabilities, must be accommodated in ordinary public schools. Special schools must support the education system, not replace it,” Mr Ngcobo concluded. A working group to guide the process of repurposing special schools was immediately established, with an initial report expected for tabling at the next meeting of the NTT.

Besides provincial progress reports on placement, over the two days three other notable presentations were shared. Mr Nkhanyeleni Mudau, Assistant Director: Inclusive Education, presented a status update on the Learners with Severe and Profound Intellectual Disability (LSPID) Conditional Grant Framework; Professor Marguerite Schneider presented the UNICEF/Washington Group Child Functioning Module; and Ms Leticia Munday, Director: Educator HR Planning, Provisioning and Monitoring, shared an update on the current review of the Post Provisioning Norms and Standards (PPNS).

The next meeting of the NTT is scheduled to take place in June, with substantive progress in the placement of the outstanding number of out-of-school children with disabilities into ordinary schools expected.